Director Joe Carnahan knows his way around action with films like Narc, The A-Team, The Grey and Copshop. Now he is back once again with his latest film Shadow Force starring Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Cliff “Method Man” Smith. Could this latest action film deliver something new to the genre, or will it be better left in the shadows?

 

Shadow Force follows Kyrah and Issac who were once leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family’s fight becomes all-out war.

 

Being a fan of Carnahan’s action films and a great cast, I had high hopes for this actioner but sadly wasn’t able to capture the fun I expected. The story is simple enough, but nothing we haven’t seen in some form. It seems to be a popular thing these days to make married assassins/spies to bring a family dynamic to the mix. It can work and has, but here it is all over the place and never a very good one.

 

The majority of it just comes off as silly and unbalanced. One moment it’s a full on action film and then it gets sidetracked with some bad dialogue and strange reactions by the characters. I like everyone in this film, but the only one I liked here was Mark Strong who brought a simple sinister mentality to the role. Omar Sy is the strong silent type and works, but most everyone else is just annoying and not by design.